[Peace-discuss] AFL-CIO: 8 Things You Need to Know About the Shutdown

Fri Oct 4 12:05:26 UTC 2013

Much of it is make-believe partisan crap, no doubt about it. But that's not
all there is. There is an effort underway to bring back the "Grand Bargain"
- raising taxes and in exchange for cutting Social Security and raising the
Medicare retirement age - while sparing the Pentagon from cuts. What a
bargain, eh?

The DC press is now saying that Republicans' price for raising the debt
ceiling will be "entitlement reform" - that's cutting Social Security and
raising the Medicare retirement age.

So, if you care about not cutting Social Security and not raising the
Medicare retirement age - which I do - then it's not all make-believe
partisan crap.

On Thu, Oct 3, 2013 at 11:20 PM, "E. Wayne Johnson 朱稳森" <ewj at pigsqq.org>wrote:

> **
> I think it's just make-believe partisan crap, exaggeration, accelerated
> nonsense.
>
> Shame on all those who support the Obot.
>
>
>
>
>
> On 10/04/13 10:07, Robert Naiman wrote:
>
> If they were shutting down the Pentagon, I might have some sympathy for
> your position. But that's the one part of the government that they're not
> shutting down.
>
>  There is a big problem with the partisan discussion - it's excluding the
> Pentagon. A key reason that I agreed to host this event was to make sure
> that the Pentagon was included in the discussion.
>
>
>
>
>
> On Thu, Oct 3, 2013 at 7:06 PM, "E. Wayne Johnson 朱稳森" <ewj at pigsqq.org>wrote:
>
>>  Let's find ways to make the shutdown permanent.
>>
>>
>>
>> On 10/04/13 5:31, Robert Naiman wrote:
>>
>>
>>
>> http://www.aflcio.org/Blog/Political-Action-Legislation/8-Things-You-Need-to-Know-About-the-Shutdown
>>
>>  8 Things You Need to Know About the Shutdown
>> Seth D. Michaels
>>
>>  This post originally appeared at Working America.
>>
>>  In case you haven’t heard, the government shut down [Tuesday morning]
>> as Congress failed to pass a “continuing resolution” to keep it operating.
>> You’ll hear a lot of people saying this is a “standoff” or a simple case of
>> two sides being unable to compromise. But it’s not politics as usual—it’s
>> an unusual, and dangerous, hijacking of politics by a determined minority.
>> Here are eight things to keep in mind as you watch this play out.
>>
>>  1. It’s Totally Optional: First and foremost, there’s no reason for a
>> shutdown, except that House Republicans refuse to pass a continuing
>> resolution (CR) without attaching unrelated provisions to undermine the
>> Affordable Care Act. This is not an inevitable crisis. It’s a manufactured
>> one.
>>
>>  2. About 800,000 People Aren’t Working, Many Working Without Pay:
>> That’s according to this good, comprehensive overview by Brad Plumer of The
>> Washington Post. “Non-essential employees” like medical researchers,
>> pesticide regulators, wage-law enforcement officials and veterans’ benefits
>> processors are staying home today, and it’s unclear whether they’ll get
>> back pay. That hit households hard.*
>>
>>  3. A Lot of People Could Go Without Benefits: Per Plumer’s report, some
>> services provided by the government—like disability claims and pensions for
>> veterans and food aid for low-income parents—will fall short if the
>> shutdown goes on too long.
>>
>>  4. That’s Awful for the Economy: When people don’t get the money
>> they’re expecting to get, they can’t do things like buy food or pay rent.
>> When families and businesses don’t know when government will re-open, that
>> makes matters worse. One economic research firm estimates the cost of a
>> shutdown to our economy at $300 million a day.
>>
>>  5. Senate Democrats Have Already Compromised: The CR that Senate
>> Democrats have passed, multiple times, isn’t based on their ideal budget.
>> It’s based on the House Republicans’ lower spending levels, which lock in
>> place sequestration cuts.
>>
>>  6. Keeping the Government Open Isn’t a Concession: House Republicans
>> are trying to say that they’re just trying to “negotiate” with the Senate.
>> But “do what we say or the economy gets it” isn’t a “negotiation.” It does
>> not constitute a compromise on their part to “offer” to fund government
>> operations. It’s called “governing.”
>>
>>  7. Many Republicans Understand What They’re Doing Is Crazy, Are Doing
>> It Anyway: It’s simply not the case that most, or even all, Republicans,
>> are enthusiastic about forcing a standoff. Even conservative writers admit
>> that this is about a small, committed ideological caucus within the
>> Republican Party. As Kate Nocera reports, Wisconsin Republican Reid Ribble
>> called the shutdown strategy “irrational” and admitted that it would cause
>> “risk to our economy.” And yet—out of loyalty to leadership, fear of a
>> primary opponent or some other mysterious reason—he voted with the rest of
>> his party for the “irrational” and economy-damaging strategy at every
>> opportunity. You get zero credit for knowing the right thing if you keep
>> doing the wrong thing anyway.
>>
>>  8. It’s Undemocratic: Government by manufactured crisis and
>> hostage-taking violates the basic norms of democracy—and the polls show
>> that shutting down government to block or undermine the new health care law
>> is a deeply unpopular position. Republicans are engaging in this behavior
>> because they couldn’t win enough power in elections to get what they want
>> any other way. It’s absurd to accept that as normal.
>>
>>  As this situation unfolds, keep those eight points in mind.
>>
>>  *Full disclosure: as the spouse of a federal employee, I’m part of one
>> of these hard-hit households.
>>
>>   --
>> Robert Naiman
>> Policy Director
>> Just Foreign Policy
>> www.justforeignpolicy.org
>> naiman at justforeignpolicy.org
>>
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> Peace-discuss mailing listPeace-discuss at lists.chambana.nethttps://lists.chambana.net/mailman/listinfo/peace-discuss
>>
>>
>>
>
>
>  --
> Robert Naiman
> Policy Director
> Just Foreign Policy
> www.justforeignpolicy.org
> naiman at justforeignpolicy.org
>
>
>

-- 
Robert Naiman
Policy Director
Just Foreign Policy
www.justforeignpolicy.org
naiman at justforeignpolicy.org
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.chambana.net/pipermail/peace-discuss/attachments/20131004/2bb27e7c/attachment.html>